Today was the first day of COUNT WEEK for the Ithaca Christmas Bird Count, being held on Monday, January first. That means, any rare birds you see in the count circle today through January 4th get onto the count, even if we don't see them on the actual count day.
It's a little bit like the saying, "kissing your sister" to get count week (CW) birds that are missed on the real count day. But, it's still important to log them in the official CBC database. Unfortunately, I don't have anything fun to add to the CW list from today myself. But, I hope people are keeping track and thinking about it. Towhees, kinglets, catbirds, Tufted Ducks are around and could be missed on Monday. Dave Nutter! You're the king of Count Week. You're always out there scouring the reeds for CW birds. What do you have to report? ;^) Here is another thing to keep track of. Those Trumpeter Swans hanging around Myers Point would be a new species for the Ithaca count IF they ever made it into the count circle. Myers Point is NOT in the circle! They would need to be seen over near the shore of Portland Point by the Cargill mine. I don't know if they have ever been seen that far south. I will be checking the waters along Portland Point from Myers on the count. (It's actually frustrating to see things like coot and Great Blue Herons at Myers and not be able to count them for the Ithaca CBC.) But if people are around Myers during the day, look south and see if you ever see those swans wander to the far shore and into the Ithaca CBC circle! Oh, going to quote a departed wonderful birding friend, Bard Prentiss - Bird Hard! Kevin Kevin J. McGowan, Ph.D. Senior Course Developer and Instructor Bird Academy Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 k...@cornell.edu<mailto:k...@cornell.edu> 607-254-2452 Do you know about our other distance-learning opportunities? Visit Bird Academy<https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/courses/>, https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/courses/ to see our list of courses. -- (copy & paste any URL below, then modify any text "_DOT_" to a period ".") Cayugabirds-L List Info: NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsWELCOME_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsRULES_DOT_htm NortheastBirding_DOT_com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave_DOT_htm ARCHIVES: 1) mail-archive_DOT_com/cayugabirds-l@cornell_DOT_edu/maillist_DOT_html 2) surfbirds_DOT_com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) aba_DOT_org/birding-news/ Please submit your observations to eBird: ebird_DOT_org/content/ebird/ --
